An attack on a motorist by a group of motorcycle riders that started when the driver of the SUV bumped into one of the bikers, and escalated after the SUV ran over one of the bikers, was witnessed by at least three off-duty police officers who failed to intervene, according to CBS News.
The entire incident was caught on video and posted online where it went viral. After being surrounded by the angry group of motorcycle riders the driver of the SUV, Alexian Lien, drove over one of the bikers, Edwin Mieses, severing his spine and possibly paralyzing him. Lien was later pulled out of the SUV and beaten. The video has provoked anger toward both Lien and the bikers, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Three of the motorcyclists have been arrested and arraigned since the incident. The man who allegedly smashed in the driver's side window of the SUV with his helmet, Reginald Chance, was arraigned on charges of first degree gang assault and assault after turning himself into police on Friday, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Lien's wife and small child were in the car at the time of the beating. Upon noticing the family still in the car Sergio Consuegra stepped in to break up the fight, according to the Associated Press.
"I felt intense danger at that moment, at that time, and I say to myself, 'Let me not show these people that I'm here to engage in any kind of confrontation but that I'm here to protect the man and the family, so I'm going to keep it cool," Consuegra told reporters.
All three of the police officers who were riding in the group of motorcycles will be suspended while an investigation is carried out. One of the officers was a detective who was undercover is being criticized for taking four days to officially report that he was present, according to CBS News.
"On Wednesday of last week the undercover detective comes forward and says, 'I was there, I saw the beating, I didn't want to break my cover,'" John Miller, a former New York deputy police commissioner, told CBS News. "He's assigned to the intelligence division and some of the people there are under deep cover and their training is, even under pressure, you don't admit who you really are.
"He would be in a lot less trouble if he would [have] come forward the first day instead of four days later," Miller continued.
